Legislation Committee Clashes Between Ruling and Opposition Parties for Two Consecutive Days... '40-Minute Delay' Leads to 'Adjournment'

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] The National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee's plenary meeting scheduled for 10 a.m. on the 17th was delayed for over 40 minutes due to conflicts of opinion between ruling and opposition party members even before it began. Although the meeting was eventually held after much difficulty, it was suspended in less than five minutes due to the opposition members' refusal to participate, resulting in repeated disruptions.

Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye is touching his head while attending the plenary session of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee held at the National Assembly on the 18th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

At the Legislation and Judiciary Committee that day, it was expected that questions would continue regarding whether there was a 'clash' related to Minister of Justice Park Beom-gye's personnel appointments of prosecutors at the level of senior prosecutors (chief prosecutors) at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office on the 7th, bypassing Shin Hyun-soo, the Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs at the Blue House. However, opposition party members of the committee collectively refused to attend and demanded guaranteed opportunities for procedural remarks before the meeting began.

Kim Do-eup, the opposition party's secretary of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, approached Chairman Yoon Ho-jung before the meeting and mentioned that the previous day's request for Chief Justice Kim Myung-soo to appear had not been accepted, demanding, "Please allow the meeting to proceed normally." At the previous day's committee plenary meeting, a vote was held on whether to add the 'request for the Chief Justice's appearance' to the agenda, but it was rejected with 12 out of 17 members present opposing it. In response, opposition members protested and left the meeting room en masse. They then held a press conference and visited the Supreme Court to lodge a protest.

On this day, Minister Park, who was requested to attend, did take a seat in the meeting room, but opposition members insisted that they would only attend if procedural remarks were guaranteed, warning, "If we do not receive a firm answer, we cannot attend." When Chairman Yoon pointed out, "We have waited for 40 minutes, but the opposition members are not coming in," Representative Kim retorted, "I understand that Democratic Party members also arrived 20 minutes late. From now on, you must tell us that procedural reports will proceed normally for us to attend."

After the meeting began, ruling and opposition members were expected to engage in fierce exchanges as they questioned Minister Park about the exact circumstances of the controversy over bypassing prosecutorial personnel appointments, attempting to link it to the administration's 'lame-duck phenomenon,' setting the stage for intense confrontations between the ruling party, opposition, and Minister Park.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.